Dec 22 (Reuters) - Japan's competition watchdog is

expected to find Google guilty of violating the

country's antitrust law, Nikkei Asia reported on Sunday, citing

sources.

The Japan Fair Trade Commission(JFTC) will soon issue a

cease and desist order asking Google to halt its monopolistic

practices, the report added.

Google did not immediately respond to request for

comment while the JFTC could not be reached for comment.

The Japanese competition watchdog started

investigating

Google for a possible breach of antimonopoly laws in web

search services last October, following similar steps by

authorities in Europe and other major economies.

Chrome is the world's most widely used web browser and

is a pillar of Google's business, providing user information

that helps the company target ads more effectively and

profitably.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice

argued

ahead of a judge that Alphabet owned Google must divest

its Chrome browser and should not be allowed to re-enter the

browser market for five years in an effort to end Google's

search monopoly.